Brainerd man charged after allegedly stealing ATV from impound and leading officers on short chase

Brainerd MN 506 James St. / PO Box 974 56401

A 34-year-old Brainerd man was arrested Friday after allegedly stealing a three-wheeler from the Brainerd police impound at Brainerd West Amoco and then crashing it with a Baxter Police squad car on Highway 210 and Golf Course Road in Baxter, said Baxter Police Baxter Police Sgt. Russ Wicklund.

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Justin Nathaniel Hanson was arraigned Monday in Crow Wing District Court for felony fleeing a peace officer in a motor vehicle and two misdemeanor counts of fleeing a peace officer by means other than a motor vehicle and theft of services.

Hanson’s next court date was scheduled at 11:30 a.m. Feb. 13. The Minnesota State Patrol reported that Baxter police found the all-terrain vehicle (ATV) that Hanson was driving traveling on the frontage road off Highway 210.

The officer had the squad car’s lights on and saw the ATV coming at the squad car, so he slowed down and moved to the left side of the road up against a snowbank and stopped. The ATV tried to squeeze through and hit the squad in the left front bumper.

Wicklund said after Hanson and the squad car crashed at the intersection of Highway 210 and Golf Course Road, Hanson continued to flee on the ATV across the highway and then he fled on foot, where he was apprehended by authorities.

Hanson was not injured. The incident was reported around 2:50 p.m.

The Brainerd Police Department, Crow Wing County Sheriff’s Department and the state patrol assisted with the incident.